Manage your subscription

US healthcare repeal law struck down at the eleventh hour

THE US Senate voted last week on the latest bill intended to rewrite central parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), President Obama’s landmark healthcare legislation. It failed to pass by one vote.

For now, the bill is dead. If any change is to be made to US healthcare law, Congress will have to write a new bill. Fractures within the Republican party have so far killed three different bills for replacing or repealing the ACA.

Some moderate Republicans have held back their votes because they represent states gripped by the opioid painkiller epidemic, and the bills proposed so far have gone too far in slashing funding for handling this crisis. On the other hand, extremely conservative Republicans haven’t been happy with the previous bills because they didn’t completely repeal the ACA. These divides may be too wide to bridge.